The Week That Was, Jan. 23-29

SHEFFIELD NELSON. He began solid steps toward an initiative to raise the gas severance tax by seeking a state Ethics Commission ruling that gas producers must disclose any spending to beat the measure.

G. DAVID GEARHART. The vice chancellor of the University of Arkansas was tapped to succeed Chancellor John White when he steps down at the end of this school year.

HEIFER INTERNATIONAL. It got $42.8 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand dairy farming in East Africa.

RACIAL STRIFE. The white West Memphis cop who killed a black child who was carrying a toy gun filed a judicial complaint over the black circuit judge who has called a grand jury investigation into the case.

HOMOPHOBIA. The same religious lobby that has long encouraged discrimination against gay people began its drive to limit adoptions and foster parenting by gay Arkansas couples. The good news is that a broad coalition has formed to oppose the gay bashers.

It was a bad week for …

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON. Beaten badly by Barack Obama in South Carolina, she needs a powerful lift from Super Tuesday.

MIKE HUCKABEE. The would-be president said he supported sleazy televangelist Kenneth Copeland's intention to defy a congressional subpoena for an investigation of the high-living ways of TV preachers like Copeland. A nation of laws? Or a nation of preachers?

HISTORY. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette did an extensive feature on old newspapers and files of the Arkansas Gazette “discovered” in the old Gazette building when the D-G began clearing the building recently for use by new charter schools. Some history questions missing in the fluff: Why did the newspaper let the stuff molder unexamined for 16 years and why wasn't there a mention that Publisher Walter Hussman rejected a suggestion that historic files be transferred to the UALR archives for preservation at the time he bought the property in 1991?

Also, drifting away from trump, Hudson's downfall at ASU and more.

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Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Also, Asa on Trump, schmoozing schedule and more.

The Arkansas Dems can lead by doing the opposite of what the national Dems did when they reelected the same leadership in charge since the equally embarrassing losses as seen in Arkansas. Electing 75-plus-year-olds is no way to embrace the youth.